What the Heck was I Thinking?!? (Conan Rpg)

[Chacal]

Mongoose Matt has made an announcement about this in the publisher's forum :

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=78681


Chacal

 

[Darklone]

RPGbooks are like software now. Produce it fast and erroneous and promise updates and patches.

 

[Mystery Man]

50 dollars is a lot of cash to not spend at least 20 minutes looking it over really well before you buy it. If you continue to pay for it all the promises in the world won't amount to a hill of beans.

 

[Henry]

50 dollars is a lot of cash to not spend at least 20 minutes looking it over really well before you buy it.

This point holds some weight, but it depends on whether the errors are obvious or not. If they aren't on any of the pages you flip through, then you'll never notice them without a thorough read. Also, anyone who bought their copy through an online store (as I would have to if I purchased it, since I am nowhere within 60 miles of a copy) would also be out of luck.

I could criticize Mongoose for glaring copy errors, but if the mechanics are not affected, then it would not matter nearly so much to me. Now, the old Sword and Fist is an example of where mechanics were severely affected, and it really bothered me about this product.

 

[VorpalBunny]

I own the book, love it, and have actually played the game using their rules.

Y'know what? The spelling mistakes, and the bit on "riot armor" doesn't change the gameplay (for me at least). Sure, it'd be nice if the guys at Mongoose got their proof-reading act together but, as is, the game is very playable and better still, is actually a whole lotta fun to play.

That is what's important.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

RPGbooks are like software now. Produce it fast and erroneous and promise updates and patches.

Very, very unfortunate, but true.

Quality often takes a backseat to quantity, especially in this front-list driven business.

One of my favorite "find and replace" stories comes from Lester Smith... From many years ago.

Seems they (who shall remain nameless) were working on a book that included the term "forward observer," a military term.

Halfway through the work they decided to abbreviate it as simply FO. No problem so far...

The problem came about when they decided to switch all of the abbreviations back to forward observer using Find and Replace.

You can imagine the damage done... Every instance of FO in the book was changed...

The Forward Observer became the Forward Observerrward Observer.

Information was Inforward observerrmation.

And so on...

 

[Joshua Randall]

The thing I don't get about these "find and replace" stories is this. In Microsoft Word, there are two advanced options (Match case, and Find whole words only) that can almost completely prevent stupid replacements. Are people really too ignorant or lazy to use these options? Do similar options not exist in all similar programs? I mean, come on!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The thing I don't get about these "find and replace" stories is this. In Microsoft Word, there are two advanced options (Match case, and Find whole words only) that can almost completely prevent stupid replacements. Are people really too ignorant or lazy to use these options? Do similar options not exist in all similar programs? I mean, come on!

It stands to reason that anyone foolish and lazy enough to use find and replace in the first place is too foolish and/or lazy to click the "Whole Words Only" box.


Wulf

 

[Darklone]

And too foolish and lazy to read his finished book once at one piece after it's finished. Or to give it to his mother to proofread it. Whatever.

 

[Krieg]

*click*